First Impressions – Sea of Thieves

AVAST YE SCALLYWAGS!!!! Sea of Thieves was announced last year, and many were intrigued by the concept. Who doesn’t want to live the pirate life with your friends! This year, Microsoft showed a great trailer featuring 3 groups of 5 players in the game. The footage was a hit because it showed how this game appeals to different players. One team was all business prepping the ship for departure. Another team drank at the pirate bar and messed around until they saw the enemy in the distance. So how was the demo? I played it yesterday and found out.

The game put 3 teams of 5 against each other on the open sea. My character was a large, husky pirate called Sprinty Jack. We all had a drink at the bar and played some music together. We then ran to our ship. The ship does not run itself, and it helps when everyone works together to prep it and launch it. You raise anchor and set the sails. I went into the bird’s nest to scout a ship. We saw one in the far distance. As we made our way towards it, another ship came at us from the left. Turning the boat is a little tricky, but you can set sails in different parts of the ship to make it easier.

Then, we attacked. The area between our boats was a sea of smoke and cannonballs. It was really intense. We were told the best way to attack is to hit the lower part of the ship so the enemy will take on water. Of course, all teams were told that, so we had to run down and fix the ship. Water can fill the ship fairly quickly, so you gotta be quick and find all the holes in your ship. At one point, the bottom hull was completely filled with water. I went down and made more repairs, but I didn’t drown. I think that aspect will be fixed when the game releases. I don’t think they want pirates who can breathe underwater. As we fixed our ship, the other 2 teams went to work on each other in a massive battle. One team’s ship went down, so we swooped in to take out the remaining damaged ship. Unfortunately our demo ended before we finished it, but I like to think that we won 🙂

The demo was a ton of fun. I am very curious to see how the other aspects of the game come together. You will have quests and new areas to discover, so I am very excited for the potential of this game. Right now, the team is working on releasing a beta and do not have a release date at this time. Rare did an awesome job and I can’t wait to play more with my friends. Clan GameOctane will own the seven seas when this game releases!!!!